Tuesday, 7 July 2009

Texas Instruments TI-83 - BIOS (TOSEC-v2006-04-21)

"The TI-83 series of graphing calculators is manufactured by Texas Instruments. The original TI-83 is itself an upgraded version of the TI-82. Released in 1996, it is one of the most used graphing calculators for students. In addition to the functions present on normal scientific calculators, the TI-83 includes many features, including function graphing, polar/parametric/sequence graphing modes, statistics, trigonometric, and algebraic functions. Although it does not include as many calculus functions, applications (for the TI-83 Plus -- see below) and programs can be downloaded from certain websites or written on the calculator.

TI replaced the TI-83 with the TI-83 Plus calculator in 1999, which included Flash memory, enabling the device's operating system to be updated if needed, or for large new Flash Applications to be stored, accessible through a new Apps key. The Flash memory can also be used to store user programs and data. In 2001 the TI-83 Plus Silver Edition was released, which featured approximately nine times the available Flash memory, and over twice the processing speed (15 MHz) of a standard TI-83 Plus, all in a translucent "sparkle" grey case.

The TI-83 was the first calculator in the TI series to have built in assembly language support. The TI-92, TI-85, and TI-82 were capable of running assembly language programs, but only after sending a specially constructed (hacked) memory backup. The support on the TI-83 could be accessed through a hidden feature of the calculator. Users would write their assembly (ASM) program on their computer, assemble it, and send it to their calculator as a program. The user would then execute the command "Send (9prgmXXX" (where XXX is the name of the program), and it would execute the program. Successors of the TI-83 replaced the Send() backdoor with a less-hidden Asm() command." (Wikipedia)